Very Rare! Civil War Zouave-face soldier carved pipe, as in Gettysburg Museum

This is a fabulous piece being offered, it is a Civil War Zouave soldier pipe, measuring 2 ½” x 2” x 1 ¼”. It has the typical signs from period handling, but not abused. It has the head of a rough looking Zouave soldier wearing his fez. This unique pipe shows good age and was hand crafted from nicely figured laurel root. An example of this pipe is in the Gettysburg NPS Museum (see pictures).

I have dealt with a variety of soldier’s pipes over the past 30 years, but this is the nicest I’ve had – this could really be a museum piece. In my book “The Civil War Soldier – His Personal Items”, I go into more detail about how important tobacco was to the Civil War soldier (see pictures).

It shows good evidence of having been well smoked during the period, yet remaining in nice, all original condition with no chips, cracks, or repairs. One can only imagine the inspiration for the stern – faced figure, but the subject will make a nice addition to any Civil War collection. It was probably a popular winter camp project for some soldier, or maybe even a POW. It comes in the deep glass-top display case pictured.